Day 148 Southport to Neston

 

Date: Saturday 21^st September 2013   Distance: 47.73 Miles

 

We had breakfast at 7.30 and left by 8.30. It was a long straight road, busy and by the dunes once we had left the promenade. Although the wind was still against us it was lighter but still a bit chilly.

 

We soon left the road for the Ainsdale Forest trail beside the nature reserved dunes. It wasn’t really well signposted but we managed to make the right directional decisions. The tall pines could have had red squirrels but we didn’t see any. The trail ended at a golf course where we had to walk and 2 bouncers in yellow coats made sure cyclists waited for the golfers to make their shot before walking across the green. What a crazy route for a path. Then we had to cross a railway line before taking the path beside the line towards Formby.

 

Bob navigated through the residential, quiet roads to the National Trust Red Squirrel Sanctuary at Formby for just before 10am. Nuts had not long been put out and we were lucky enough to spot at least 5 different red squirrels, some with black tails which surprised me. It was quite a country idyll with scampering squirrels in the pines, rabbits, jays and magpies all jostling for food.

 

Satisfied squirrel spotters we stopped at a petrol station with a Greggs attached for a break. It was easy to park the bike and watch it while we had tea and cake. It was inundated with mini footballers caked in mud. That shows parental dedication. The match had already taken place!

 

High grassy dunes separate Formby from its beach so we couldn’t see the sea without deviating from our route. The dunes suffer from water based erosion and every year disguarded Christmas trees are planted to try and stem this. Rare Natterjack toads breed in this area and their song in the evening has the local name “Bootle Organ.”

 

About a mile inland, passing a recycling centre for garden waste and then signs saying the compost was free to take in bags or boots, we came to Little Crosby with its 17th century houses and Georgian Crosby Hall. On into Crosby, along the sea front and all across the 2 mile stretch of sand were the Anthony Gormley iron statues of himself, some with clothes now. It didn’t seem there were 100 but some figures were almost covered by water so might have not been visible at all. I really liked them though when I first saw one in the water I thought it was a person struggling in the waves. They all look out to sea across to North Wales.

 

The path here had sand mounds across it so it wasn’t easy to cycle. Apparently the council clear the dunes on the houses side but left the shifting sand high at the sea side and it just drops through the railings. They have to clear it every 2 days. This must eat a lot of council money so a solution is definitely needed here.

 

The route was lovely till Bootle when we found ourselves on a really busy A road and not seeing any cycleway we ended up going over a flyover with several lanes of traffic that we had to cross to get to the dockside. Someone kindly stopped and let us in and we were back on a quiet but very industrial dock road. It was mostly derelict or smelly. Huge piles of aluminium and cubes of rusty car remains waited to be shipped abroad. At the Liverpool end some of the massive Victorian warehouses had been reclaimed and made into smart apartments. We came into Liverpool and headed for the Liver buildings near where the ferry leaves for Birkenhead and other places on the little tours as it happens.

 

There was a fund raising event on and there were a lot of people about. As the next ferry didn’t leave till 1 we decided to get a sandwich- not easy. I queued for nearly half an hour at a mobile cafe and then we gobbled our baguettes just before embarking on the boat with hundreds of others for Space Port, at the top end of Birkenhead. Our tickets had cost £21 which was the worst value out of all the ferries. The boat went down the docks where we had just been and then crossed to go back up the other side. An automatic commentary seemed out of phase with where we were and no one seemed to listen though it was very loud and distracting. I liked the music as we set off- Ferry Cross the Mersey which sent me back to my youth.

 

At Space Port I nearly got left on the boat as I was chatting to other cyclists. We’d been told to wait for the pedestrians to leave and hadn’t noticed they already had. A panicky Bob yelled my name and we scooted off. There were sounds of children having a great time but we couldn’t see them. It consists of themed galleries with hands on exhibits, an observatory and today there was a Dr. Who exhibition.

 

We were on the 35 mile circular cycle path around the Wirral, though we came off at Neston where we finished the whole tour. There was a very wide promenade at new Brighton and it looked like there was plenty here for tourists to do, a mixture of new and old like the privately owned 19th century Fort Perch Rock. We especially liked the pirate boat made from driftwood that had children playing all over it. We saw another further along the route so the council must have commissioned it.Brilliant idea!

 

 It was open sea after this and in the sunshine the views were lovely. Most of the last bit of today was traffic free and extremely enjoyable. Passing Gunsite and Leasowe Dunes where there was an anti aircraft station during the 2nd World War. There are special guided tours at Leasowe Lighthouse on the common. It was built in 1763 and was probably the first building in the world to use cavity walls for insulation.

 

Golf is the main attraction at Hoylake though the 2 mile beach is attractive and today at the end of the rail by the sea was a huddle of twitters. In amongst a colony of waders on the sands there was a solitary bird, that sounded like a lesser spotted sandpiper from South America but I could have got that wrong, and these trophy hunters were after a shot of it to tick it off their lists. There didn’t look as if there was a Bill Oddie type among them.

 

We had to ride through the town of West Kirby, which was full of black and white buildings and had some interesting shops. I thought it a good place to live but there is controversy over a possible large hotel being built to encourage regeneration. A lot of people want to retain the present character and I can see why, being of an older generation who really value the simple things in life like views!

 

At West Kirby we took the Wirral Way which is on the old railway line and is 6 miles in length. We passed under the iron bridge of Edwardian Ashton Park and came to Cubbins Green, a grassland area fronting the River Dee, us having turned with the land and left the Irish Sea.  From here you can see Hilbre Island which can be walked to when the tide is out.

 

There were lots of cyclists on this route and one party was a big group of junior school children racing along to a barbeque at one of the boy’s grandparents. We hope they knew where they were going because they ended up being very spread out and we could hear the adult in charge booming out instructions. Still it’s all character building stuff!

 

There was a bit off the path, along Davenport road, where houses had been built on the old rail line site. Then it was back on it again.

 

At Thurstaston, at another railway arch, we went to the visitors centre with its outdoor coffee booth, little shop and loos. It was 6 miles to go but it took longer than expected as we couldn’t decide which way to go just before Neston village. We believe now we could have gone to the pub, The Hart, via Parkgate which was right on the coast but we chose to go through Neston itself and then got a little disorientated. Bob found it with the ordinance survey map and we were cheered by friends Chris and Will when we arrived. The best pint I have ever tasted! The bike came apart and surprisingly the larger bit stood up between the back seats while the front part went in the boot. We all went out for a slap up meal and now we’re planning our next venture- a hundred islands in 5 years, starting with the tiny island of Hilbre that we passed earlier today.

It took us 148 days in all to cycle 4,711 and a half miles!